FAYETTEVILLE -- In separate interviews Thursday, the athletic directors at Arkansas and Notre Dame said it would be hard to envision college football games played in stadiums without spectators this fall.
The idea has been floated in football circles as a way to play the 2020 season while states gradually roll back social-distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of covid-19, which has killed more than 30,000 people in the U.S.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said in a Snapchat interview this week it is unlikely sporting events can happen this summer with large crowds in attendance. The college football season is scheduled to begin nationwide on Labor Day weekend.
Playing games in empty stadiums includes potential roadblocks. In a radio interview on Halftime with Phil Elson, University of Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek expressed his concern over the safety for players if attending games is deemed unsafe for fans.
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"If it's not safe enough for our fans to be in the stands, somebody would really have to sell me on what protocol is in place that it is safe enough for those young men on both lines of scrimmage, one foot apart, sweating on each other, spitting on each other, sharing a football -- how it's safe for them," said Yurachek, whose son Jake is a linebacker on the Arkansas football team.
"If you're talking about golf or tennis, where there's some natural social distancing between the competitors, that's one thing, but the sport of football, you don't get any closer in a sport. So somebody is going to have to really do a sales job on me and my colleagues throughout this industry about how it's not safe to have fans in the stands but it's safe for the young men to take the field."
Addressing the idea that games could be played if fans were prohibited from attending, Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick told ESPN, "I don't see a model where we play, at least any extended number of games, in facilities where we don't have fans."
Along with 10 conference commissioners, Swarbrick was one of at least a dozen college football leaders who participated in a teleconference with Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday to address the upcoming season. The Associated Press reported the conference commissioners said football season cannot begin while campuses are closed, and that they would prefer a uniform start date for the season.
That could be problematic given varying guidelines that are based on the severity of the coronavirus from state to state.
"If California isn't allowing football is that going to be an issue for what is obviously a national enterprise," American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco told The Associated Press.
Swarbrick told ESPN he opposes the idea of playing games in empty stadiums.
"There might be a middle ground where you say, the first two games of the season, you might have to make some accommodations," Swarbrick said. "Maybe you only have students in attendance and you don't invite other fans. I couldn't see us going past a very limited example of that."
Arkansas is scheduled to play at Notre Dame on Sept. 12 in the second game of the season for both teams. Whether the season can begin on schedule, with or without fans, is unknown.
The SEC has banned practices or in-person contact for teams until at least May 31 and classes at Arkansas will be conducted online through the end of the summer.
Yurachek said he is eager to hear from medical professionals about when it will be acceptable to allow students back on campus, "which would trigger bringing our student-athletes back to campus to begin training and playing."
"That's not a decision that's going to be made by the director of athletics at the University of Arkansas or any other SEC school," Yurachek said. "It's not a decision that's going to be made by Commissioner (Greg) Sankey or any of his staff at the SEC. That is a decision that is going to be made by the leadership of our states and the leadership of our nation."
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Sports on 04/17/2020